The Tradition

HISTORY OF JUMP RACING

THE NATIONAL STEEPLECHASE ASSOCIATION the governing body of jump racing in North America– Steeplechasing, in America and elsewhere, is a sport that celebrates the long and close relationship between man and the horse. Today’s international sport grew out of the hunting field, where riders depended upon the athleticism, strength, speed, and sure-footedness of their horses to carry them safely over fence, field, and stream.

Steeplechasing traces its lineage to Ireland in the mid-18th century, and in recent decades its beauty and excitement have attracted the participation of leaders in commerce and industry. In England, HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was an avid fan and participant for more than a half century, and Prince Charles has ridden in steeplechase races. In the United States, families bearing such well-known names as duPont, Mellon, Vanderbilt, Whitney, Widener, Clark, and Phipps have raced horses over fences.

Steeplechases often have been presented in conjunction with racing at established race tracks, which is known as flat racing. In fact, steeplechasing helped to save American horse racing early this century when betting was banned at the New York tracks. But steeplechasing has developed its own distinct identity. While flat racing is largely conducted at big-city tracks, steeplechasing is a country sport, usually conducted over natural terrain.

John Hislop, an English horseman who wrote a definitive book about steeplechasing, perhaps best described the differences between the two Thoroughbred racing sports. Although speaking about England and Irish racing, his distinction is equally accurate for American steeplechasing. He wrote:

“Steeplechasing has about it rather more glamour and excitement than the flat, a trace of chivalry, a spice of danger, and a refreshing vigor that the smooth urbanity of flat-racing lacks. The atmosphere is less restrained, more friendly, more intimate and more sympathetic. It gives the impression of being a sport and not primarily a business, for though it seems impossible to preserve any present-day pastime from the tarnishing influence of Mammon, the majority of those who patronize steeplechasing do so from a true love of its qualities, rather from what it yields materially.”

In the United States, steeplechasing has reached new heights of material awards — purses approached $5-million in 2013 — but it remains a sport with a heart. Most steeplechase meets are conducted by nonprofit organizations, and the proceeds from the races go to charitable causes. Each year, steeplechasing gives millions of dollars to its charitable beneficiaries.

By most accounts, the first steeplechase race was held in 1752 in County Cork, Ireland, where a horseman named O’Callaghan engaged Edmund Blake in a match race, covering approximately 4 1/2 miles from Buttevant Church to St. Mary’s Doneraile, whose tower was known as St. Leger Steeple. Indeed, church steeples were the most prominent — and tallest — landmarks on the landscape, and the sport took its name from the chase to the steeple. History did not record the winner of the O’Callaghan-Blake match, or if either of them completed their cross-country chase.

This form of cross-country match racing — “my horse against yours” — soon spread to England, and the first reported race involving more than two horses occurred in 1792, when Charles Meynell defeated Lord Forester and Mr. Gilbert in an eight-mile race from Barkby Holt to Billesden Coplow and back. The first race over an established course occurred in Bedfordshire in 1810. The sport quickly grew in popularity, and the first Grand National was staged in 1839 at Aintree, a small town outside Liverpool on England’s western coast.

Over the years, the Grand National and its towering fences have held a special fascination for Americans whose horses race over fences, and American-owned horses have had excellent success over the historic Aintree course. Mr. Frisk, owned by Maryland sportswoman Mrs. Harry F. Duffey, won the race in 1990, and Pennsylvania horsewoman Elizabeth Moran’s Papillion won the Grand National a decade later.

Steeplechasing found its way to the United States through the fox-hunting field and had established itself within a few years after Lottery won the first Grand National. The sport’s first footholds were in Long Island, Maryland, Virginia, and eastern Pennsylvania, and steeplechasing soon spread to the Carolinas, Georgia, Massachusetts, and other states.

In 1934, the Rose Tree Hunt, located just to the west of Philadelphia, advertised that it would stage its 75th annual fall race meeting that year, thus tracing its inaugural meet to 1860, a year before the Civil War began. The Meadow Brook Cup was first run in 1883 on Long Island. In the 1930s, the race was run in part over the estate of F. Ambrose Clark, an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune and one of his era’s leading steeplechase horsemen.

The Meadow Brook, which ultimately moved to Belmont Park, no longer is run. But the Maryland Hunt Cup had its first running in 1894, and two other popular Maryland timber-racing fixtures — the Grand National Point-to-Point and My Lady’s Manor — were inaugurated as sanctioned races in 1901 and 1909, respectively. To establish rules for the fast-growing sport, the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association was founded in 1895.

The Early Years

One of the most prominent figures in steeplechasing’s early years was Thomas Hitchcock Sr., who was born in 1861. One of the founders of Belmont Park, he never raced on the flat but instead turned his energies toward steeplechasing. He owned and trained Good and Plenty, the sport’s leading earner in 1904, 1905, and 1906. Good and Plenty won the 1906 American Grand National at Belmont and was inducted into Thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame in 1955.

Hitchcock, who helped to introduce fox-hunting to Aiken, South Carolina, also trained Annibal, the 1938 Grand National winner, and Cottesmore, winner of the Grand National in 1940 and 1942. During the latter years of his career, many of Hitchcock’s horses were ridden by Rigan McKinney, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1968. Hitchcock died in 1941 at the age of 80, and one of the horses in his dispersal was Elkridge, who became one of the most durable and accomplished performers in the sport’s history.

An American horse achieved a first-ever victory in Aintree’s Grand National in 1908 when Rubio — bred in California by James Ben Ali Haggin — conquered the tall fences. Haggin sold him at Newmarket in 1899 for 15 guineas, which was very little money even in those days.

Soon after Belmont Park opened in 1905, American horse racing entered a troubled era when antigambling sentiment cast a shadow over the sport and, indeed, all of American life. In 1908, the Hart-Agnew Act barred wagering at racetracks, and the Director’s Criminal Liability Act of 1910 shut down the sport in New York the following year. Coming to racing’s rescue was steeplechasing, which never has been dependent upon wagering.

“When the governor put the ban on racing in 1911, the jump racing is what kept it going,” recalls Hall of Fame trainer W. Burling `Burley’ Cocks, who rode for Brose Clark during the early 1930s. “They had all the jumping courses at Belmont, across Hempstead Avenue at what they called the Terminal, where the train used to come in. They had a timber course and every kind of fence imaginable. And there was jump racing every day.” Belmont Park reopened in 1913, and steeplechasing remained a major part of New York racing into the 1970s. Today, steeplechasing is one of the most popular features of the Saratoga Race Course meet in July and August, and at least one steeplechase race is staged at Belmont in the fall.

The Twenties and Thirties

Steeplechasing had its first Hall of Fame rivalry in the 1920s, when Jolly Roger and Fairmount dueled on the racecourse. Fairmount was the leading steeplechase earner in 1926, but he ran into a formidable opponent the following year. Jolly Roger, who was bred by Harry Payne Whitney and raced in the historic colors of Greentree Stable, won six of his eight starts in 1927 and had earnings of $63,075, a record to that time.

Jolly Roger defeated Fairmount in the 1927 Grand National, but Fairmount turned the tables in the Temple Gwathmey. Jolly Roger was the leading earner again in 1928, when he again won the Grand National, and he was retired in 1930 with record career earnings of $143,240. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1965, and Fairmount followed him two decades later.

In his two American Grand National victories, Jolly Roger was ridden by Robert H. Crawford, who was known as “Specs” because of his freckled face. Earlier in his career, Crawford also had ridden The Brook, who was the sport’s leading earner in 1918. The jockey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.

On several occasions, Fairmount was ridden by J. Dallet “Dolly” Byers, who was the sport’s leading jockey in 1918, 1921, and 1928. He was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1967 for his accomplishments as a trainer. For Mrs. F. Ambrose “Meg” Clark, Byers trained Tea-Maker, the 1952 national sprint champion. He also was part of a long succession of leading steeplechase jockeys who have successfully made the transition to training careers.

An American-owned horse won the Grand National at Aintree for the first time in 1923 when Sergeant Murphy, owned by Cambridge University student Stephen Sandford, won in an excellent 9:36. Another American-owned horse, Jack Horner, won in 1926.

In many ways, the Depression years of the 1930s constituted a Golden Age of American steeplechasing. Many of the sport’s top horsemen — including Hall of Fame members Cocks, George H. “Pete” Bostwick and Carroll K. Bassett — emerged during the decade. Other prominent horsemen who practiced their trade in those years were Morris H. Dixon, Noel Laing, Jim Murphy, and Sidney Watters, a Hall of Fame inductee in 2005.

Both Cocks and Bostwick trained under Brose Clark on Long Island, while Bassett handled the horses of Marion duPont, who would later marry actor Randolph Scott. Cocks fondly recalled those times. “Laing was a good rider, and Bassett was, too. Pete Bostwick was tremendous. Laing and Bassett were bigger guys, but Pete was built more like a jockey.”

Cocks also recalled the hunt meets that were staged on Clark’s estate. Following mid-morning races on his Broadhollow estate in Old Westbury, Clark would be host to more than a hundred guests for a luncheon at which fine food and champagne filled the tables.

Meg Clark’s racing colors were carried to victory in the 1933 Grand National by Kellsboro’ Jack. Brose Clark had bought him as a yearling in 1927 and sold him to his wife for one pound on the suggestion, made in jest by trainer Ivor Anthony, that a new owner might change their luck.

The Clarks were steeplechase people, and no less so were the members of Wilmington’s duPont family. When Marion duPont’s brother, William duPont Jr., built Delaware Park, a steeplechase course designed by Morris Dixon was one of its distinctive features. Also in the mid-1930s, duPont built the Fair Hill steeplechase course in northern Maryland to duplicate the look and feel of an English country steeplechase course.

Marion duPont won many important races with a small son of Man o’ War named Battleship, including the American Grand National in 1934 and Aintree’s Grand National in 1938, a contest in which the little 40-to-1 long shot caught the favorite in the last stride. Battleship thus became the first American-bred and American-owned horse to win at Aintree. At stud in Virginia, Battleship sired two steeplechase champions, War Battle (1947) and Shipboard (1956).

A patron of Camden, South Carolina’s Springdale Course, Marion duPont Scott was a major supporter of the Colonial Cup, a championship race in the fall that now has been renamed in her honor. She also held steeplechase races at her Virginia home, Montpelier, and was honored in 1965 as the first recipient of the F. Ambrose Clark Award for her many contributions to the sport.

For many years, Carroll K. Bassett was her principal trainer and jockey. Bassett was also a highly accomplished sculptor, and the auditorium of Camden’s Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County was named for him. Battleship’s regular jockey, he was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1972.

Members of Philadelphia’s Widener family became deeply involved in racing during this era, and Joseph E. Widener bred and raced Bushranger, one of the best steeplechase horses of the 1930s. In 1936, he was the nation’s leading steeplechase horse with victories in The Brook and, under a record 172 pounds, in the American Grand National. Late in the year, he sustained a fatal injury while schooling at Belmont Park.

Forties and Fifties

The 1940s were transitional years for many of the horsemen who had made their marks as amateur steeplechase jockeys in the 1930s. By the end of the 1940s, professional jockeys had eclipsed their amateur counterparts. But many of the professionals also went on to successful careers as trainers.

With much of flat racing, steeplechasing was curtailed during World War II. When the war ended, Sid Watters resumed his training career, and riders such as D. Michael Smithwick, A. P. “Paddy” Smithwick, Willard “Mike” Freeman and Charles Cushman found their way to Burly Cocks’ Hermitage Farm in Unionville, Pennsylvania. In later decades, trainers Billy Turner and Tom Skiffington would study under Cocks at Hermitage Farm. Morris Dixon also broadened his operation to include 1948 Preakness Stakes winner Polynesian, the sire of Native Dancer.

In the decade, Pittsburgh’s Mellon family became deeply involved in steeplechasing. Richard King Mellon, a leader of the banking family, developed a steeplechase string at Rolling Rock near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, with Sidney Watters as his trainer. Also entering the sport was Paul Mellon, a Virginia resident who is best known for his art collections, his philanthropy, and his flat horses. But his first champion was American Way, a steeplechase horse who won the title in 1948.

Elkridge was the horse who spanned the decade. Sold in Hitchcock’s 1941 dispersal for $7,000 to owner-trainer Kent Miller, he was a flop at first, but he soon figured out the game. By his retirement in 1951 at age 13, he had raced over fences an incredible 119 times. In all of those starts, he fell only once, when some brush lodged under his girth and brought him down at Laurel Race Course in the 1945 Butler Steeplechase.

The son of Mate was the sport’s champion in 1942 and again was the Daily Racing Form’s choice in 1946. His lifetime earnings of $235,225 — a record at the time — made him the unofficial “King of the ‘Chasers,” and he was a crowd-pleaser wherever he raced. He won the American Grand National in 1946 and took Delaware Park’s Indian River Steeplechase a record five times.

One of the leading amateurs who emerged as a successful trainer in this era was Pete Bostwick, Brose Clark’s nephew. He had been associated with Cottesmore in 1940s and enjoyed even greater success with Oedipus, steeplechasing’s champion in 1950 and 1951.

Bred by Col. E. R. Bradley’s historic Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, Oedipus was owned by Lillian Phipps, Bostwick’s sister. Her husband, Ogden Phipps, had participated in the purchase of the Idle Hour horses after Bradley’s death, and with them launched a highly successful private breeding operation for flat racing in succeeding decades. But Lillian Phipps always was closely associated with the jumping sport.

Oedipus, a son of Blue Larkspur, had is best season in 1951, when he won the Grand National as well as the Brook, Broad Hollow, Beverwyck and Corinthian Steeplechase Handicaps. Oedipus was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978.

Bostwick and his sister would enjoy their greatest success with Neji, one of the sport’s all-time greats. The son of Hunter’s Moon IV was bred by Marion duPont Scott, but he was sold as a three-year-old to Mrs. Phipps. Under Bostwick’s care, Neji raced well at four, winning the Brook for the first time, and he blossomed at five to win his first national title in 1955. Racing exclusively at Belmont Park, he won the first of his three Grand Nationals and two runnings of the Temple Gwathmey.

He would win both races again in 1957 when, now under the care of D. Michael Smithwick, he again was steeplechasing’s champion. At his record grew more impressive, so too did the weights that he was asked to carry. In his final championship season, 1958, Neji carried a record 173 pounds to victory in the Grand National. He finished second that year in the Temple Gwathmey, in which he was burdened with 176 pounds.

At the conclusion of his career in 1960, Neji was the sport’s all-time leading earner with $271,956 in steeplechase earnings. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1967, a year before Bostwick was elected. Mikey Smithwick entered the Hall of Fame in 1975, a year after his late brother. Frank “Dooley” Adams, a leading jockey in the late 1940s and 1950s who rode Neji in his 1955 Temple Gwathmey victory, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970.

Joseph L. Aitcheson Jr. launched a jump-racing career in 1956 that would extend for 22 years and land him in the Hall of Fame in 1978. He was the sport’s leading rider for a record seven years, and his 440 victories over fences in an American record that may never be eclipsed. In 1975, he was honored with the F. Ambrose Clark Award for his contributions to the sport.

In 1950, Flint S. “Scotty” Schulhofer began a riding career that would keep him near the top of the rankings into the 1960s. But Schulhofer would have his greatest success as a trainer of flat horses, including national champions Smile, the leading sprinter of 1986, and Fly So Free, 1990’s top two-year-old.

In 1962, Pete Bostwick became the first steeplechase trainer to amass earnings of $1 million, and he was quickly followed by Mikey Smithwick. Michael G. “Mickey” Walsh, a native of County Cork, Ireland, who began training steeplechase horses in the 1940s, passed the $1-million mark in 1964. Walsh, who was based in Southern Pines, North Carolina, was the sport’s leading trainer for three years, from 1953 through 1955. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Sixties and Seventies

The 1960s produced three Hall of Fame horses, but steeplechasing virtually was evicted from the major New York metropolitan racetracks in the following decade. Also emerging from the 1970s, though, were the sport’s all-time leading owner and trainer.

The dominant horse over fences in the 1960s was Bon Nouvel, a son of Spy Song who twice lifted his owner, Theodora A. Randolph, to the top of the owners list, in 1964 and 1968. Trained by Smithwick, Bon Nouvel was the sport’s leading horse in 1964, 1965 and 1968.

In 1965, he carried 170 pounds to a 30-length victory in the Temple Gwathmey, but he sustained a tendon injury the following spring. Away from the races for two years, he returned in 1968 to win Saratoga’s Beverwyck Steeplechase Handicap. He was retired after fracturing a small bone behind his knee in that year’s Temple Gwathmey. Bon Nouvel was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976.

In recent years, steeplechasing has represented a new beginning for horses who did not possess the speed or temperament to succeed on the flat. Crompton “Tommy” Smith Jr. found Jay Trump at Charles Town Racetrack in West Virginia after Cincinnati resident Mary Stephenson had asked him to find her a steeplechase horse.

Smith found her a horse who excelled over tall fences. He won the Maryland Hunt Cup three times, and — with Smithwick as his trainer — swept the 1964 Maryland timber classics, My Lady’s Manor, the Grand National Point-to-Point and the Hunt Cup. But Smith would be in the saddle when Jay Trump flew over Aintree’s fences to win the 1965 Grand National. With his hard-fought victory over 46 other starters, Jay Trump became the first American-bred, American-owned and American-ridden horse to win the Grand National. Jay Trump entered the Hall of Fame in 1971, and Tommy Smith was honored with the Ambrose Clark Award in 1966.

The decade’s other Hall of Fame member traveled in the other direction. Bred in Ireland, L’Escargot was owned by Raymond R. Guest, an American sportsman and ambassador to Ireland who raced flat champion Tom Rolfe. One of Europe’s best, L’Escargot won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and had a first, second and third in Aintree’s Grand National. A fervent proponent of international racing, Guest raced L’Escargot three times in the United States in 1969, gaining a championship on the strength of a victory in the Meadow Brook. L’Escargot was retired after winning the 1975 Grand National.

Late in the 1960s, a partnership was formed that would endure into the 21st century. Jonathan Sheppard, a son of an English racing official who had ridden professionally for Burley Cocks, went on his own as a trainer and soon was training for George Strawbridge Jr., whose horses ran in his green-and-white Augustin Stables colors.

From his base in West Grove, Pennsylvania, Sheppard became the sport’s leading trainer in victories in 1970. He repeated in 1972 and won the title in 23 of the next 31 years. In all, he has been the sport’s leading trainer a record 25 times. His record in the money-won category also is remarkable. He has led in purses won in 28 seasons, and his total purse earnings exceed $21 million.

Augustin Stables has been a major beneficiary of Sheppard’s talents. Augustin jumped to the top of the rankings in 1974 and accumulated a total of 22 championships. Augustin raced many good horses on the flat and over fences, and one of the best was Cafe Prince, a champion in 1977 and 1978 who was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1985.

Sheppard’s first champion was William L. Pape’s Athenian Idol in 1973, and he would close out the decade with another Pape-owned champion, Martie’s Anger. In the following decades, Sheppard would add another seven championships, four with the marvelous Flatterer, and the trainer was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1990, a few months before his 50th birthday. Flatterer followed him into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

The Eighties

With its exile from the major tracks, steeplechasing endured several years of diminished purse levels in the 1970s. But the sport went back to its roots — in the country — and emerged from the 1980s with purses at record levels. Total purses slipped below $700,000 in 1973, but they soared above $4 million, then a record, in 1990. In 2008, purses were a record $5.4-million.

Steeplechasing’s growth was fostered by the efforts of its leaders and supporters, both at the national level and in the individual hunt meets. But the growth also was assisted by two champions who blazed through the first years of the decade. Mrs. Lewis C. (Bunny) Murdock’s Zaccio raced to three consecutive championships from 1980 through 1982, and Flatterer then won a record four consecutive titles from 1983 through 1986.

Burley Cocks had purchased Zaccio for longtime clients Miles and Joy Valentine, but Mrs. Murdock bought him at the dispersal after Miles Valentine’s death. The leading juvenile in 1979, the Lorenzaccio gelding blossomed at four, when he won two Saratoga stakes races, the Lovely Night Handicap and the New York Turf Writers.

Sidelined with an injury in that year’s Temple Gwathmey, he returned in 1981 and found his best form late in the season, winning the Grand National at Foxfield, Virginia, and the Colonial Cup at Camden, South Carolina. Despite being troubled with quarter cracks, Zaccio gained his third title with victories in the New York Turf Writers, the Temple Gwathmey and the Colonial Cup. Cocks was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985, and Zaccio joined him there in 1990.

The decade also was marked by another victory in Aintree’s Grand National. Charles Fenwick Jr., the leading timber rider of his generation, had taken Ben Nevis to Aintree in 1979, but they were taken down by a loose horse at The Chair, the course’s tallest fence. Fenwick returned the next year, and he successfully toured the course with Ben Nevis, jumping to the lead the second time over Becher’s Brook and winning by 20 lengths. For his contributions to the sport, Fenwick was awarded the Ambrose Clark Award that summer, and Ben Nevis was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.

As ailments forced Zaccio from the top levels of competition, his place was taken by Flatterer, who was bred by Pape and Sheppard and owned by them and Irish bloodstock agent George Harris. At four in 1983, the Mo Bay gelding became the first horse to sweep steeplechasing’s triple crown — the Grand National, the Temple Gwathmey and the Colonial Cup.

If anything, Flatterer was better at five, concluding his season with three convincing wins over fences. Raced lightly in 1985, he repeated his Temple Gwathmey and Colonial Cup victories to claim his third title. At seven and eight, he established his standing among the best steeplechase horses in the world, finishing second in the championship hurdle races of France (1986) and England (1987).

He was the American champion again in 1986, winning the Radnor Races’ National Hunt Cup under a record 176 pounds and concluding the season with an overpowering 17-length victory in the Colonial Cup. His career concluded when he sustained a bowed tendon in the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase at Fair Hill, Maryland. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

The Nineties and Beyond

Each decade of American’s steeplechasing’s history is marked by at least one superstar, a horse of transcendent talents who captures multiple championships and a multitude of fans. In the 1990s, that horse was Lonesome Glory, and in the first decade of the new century McDynamo proved to be a dynamo – especially when he set foot on the racecourse at Far Hills, New Jersey.

The decade opened with a first, the first woman trainer to head a national sport. Janet Elliot, a native of Ireland who had worked for Jonathan Sheppard and went on her own in 1979, led the sport by both victories and earnings in 1991. Her standard-bearer was William Lickle’s Victorian Hill, who won $232,092 that year. A crowd favorite, Victorian Hill remains the sport’s fourt-leading earner with $748,370.

The following year, a new star emerged. Bred by Walter M. Jeffords and raced by his widow, Kay, Lonesome Glory flunked out as a flat racehorse prospect and a show horse. But, in the hands of trainer Bruce Miller, the Transworld gelding emerged as the dominant competitor of the 1990s. Indeed, his championships spanned the decade, from 1992 to his fifth Eclipse Award in 1999.

Ridden principally by Miller’s daughter, Blythe, and occasionally by his son, Chip, Lonesome Glory won just about every major race in America. He won the Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup three times, in 1994, 1995, and 1997. He set a Belmont Park course record when winning the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase by 8 1/2 lengths under Blythe Miller. Among his five other course records, he set a Saratoga Race Course mark in winning the 1995 New York Turf Writers Cup.

He concluded his career with a course-record effort in the Royal Chase at Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky. In all, he won 17 National Steeplechase Association-sanctioned races and retired with then-record earnings of $965,809 under NSA rules. Lonesome Glory was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

The earnings record would fall the following decade when McDynamo took to the steeplechase racecourse. The Dynaformer gelding, owned by Michael J. Moran, managed a maiden victory on the flat, but he would soar when turned over to Sanna Neilson Hendriks and was sent over fences beginning in 2001. A three-time Eclipse Award winner, he won the Grand National at Far Hills five times and won the Colonial Cup in each of his championship seasons.

He set course records in his first two Grand National victories, then known as the Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase, and he also established a Colonial Cup mark in 2003. Retired in 2007, the year in which he won the Grand National by six lengths, McDynamo concluded his career with 15 wins over fences and record purses of $1,310,104. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility in 2013. Inducted with him was Tuscalee, the sport’s all-time leader by races won.

In 1995, American Steeplechasing took a notable step toward assuring its future with the formation of the National Steeplechase Foundation. Spearheaded by many of the sport’s leaders, the National Steeplechase Foundation is a 501 (c) (3)corporation dedicated to promoting safety, education, fairness, and amateurism.